Redwood City, CA: NeXT has made inroads in the government market with the announcement of major sales to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department has taken delivery of 130 NeXT computers and plans to purchase 200 to 300 more. The Sheriff's office has standardized on the NeXT for its Sheriff's Executive Support System, which will be used to integrate decision support and information gathering at the department's 100 sites. The new system will automate document management and other key areas with custom applications.

"In our view there was no close second to NeXT to do the kinds of things, right out of the box, that we need the system to do," said Rick Merrick, division chief of the Sheriff's Technical Services Division. The department's system will use software from Boss Logic, Frame Technology, Informix Software, and Oracle Corporation.

DARPA is adding NeXT to a research project designed to explore the ideal of the "paperless environment." The DARPA experiment also includes systems from other PC and workstation manufacturers. The inclusion of NeXT systems "demonstrates clearly that our products and technology are being accorded the same serious attention as that of other major computer manufacturers," said Fred Giodano, NeXT regional sales manager.